Deadline for to remove illicit content King passes
THAILAND - Thai internet providers say they are under pressure to immediately shut down access to Facebook as a deadline lapsed for the social media giant to remove content, including posts critical of the monarchy.
The government threatened Facebook last week with legal action unless it removed 131 “illicit” pages yesterday. However, the Bangkok Post reported that the Thai Internet Service Provider Association may also disconnect access to Facebook’s servers. It cited an email purportedly sent from Tispa to the managing director of Facebook Thailand warning that if the company does not remove all 131 pages, “concerned authorities will request that we shut down” access to the site. “This action may affect the entire delivery services of www.facebook.com to customers in Thailand,” Tispa said in the email, according to the Bangkok Post. The Guardian was unable to immediately corroborate the report. Facebook was still accessible in Thailand on Tuesday after the deadline. A Facebook spokesperson said it reviews requests by governments to restrict access to content. “When we receive such a request, we review it to determine if it puts us on notice of unlawful content. If we determine that it does, then we make it unavailable in the relevant country or territory and notify people who try to access it why it is restricted,” the spokesperson said. The Thai government has not publicly released details of which posts it wants removed. Several images and a video appearing to show the 64-year-old Thai monarch wearing a crop top and covered in ornate tattoos have been published on social media during the past few weeks.
(Theguardian.com)